About Tiny Toones

On April 3rd, I started my climb to scale the dizzy heights of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo. Armed with my backpack, lots of water, my Guide Arnold and positive spirits I began my ascent at 9.15am.

It took six hours to get to the half way point, Laban Rata, where we spent the next few hours trying to get as much sleep as possible before the rising at 1.30am the following morning to make the arduous climb to the summit of the mountain. I arrived at Laban Rata in great spirits, excited for some tasty sustenance and a good night’s rest. The views were spectacular and the breeze was a welcome relief from the exhausting climb.

Waking up at 1.30am was not easy, especially after only 6 hours sleep but I was excited to get to the summit. So armed with a small breakfast, my head torch and my camera, we started on the 2.6km hike up to the summit. The scariest part for me was using the ropes to climb up some sheer rock faces with just the light of the head torch to guide me! Luckily my guide was encouraging and helpful and eventually, we made it to the summit just as the sun was rising. The sight was spectacular, and the climb had been worth it!

As a Drama teacher and an educator myself, nothing inspires me more than people who give up their time, commitment and passion to help build a more confident, supported youth of tomorrow, particularly for those who may not otherwise lead such a promising future.

When I first thought of this crazy idea, I decided that to justify this sheer (excuse the pun) craziness, I would raise money for ‘Tiny Toones’, a Global Concern I currently support through my school, along with a bunch of awesome Middle schoolers!

Do you have a crazy idea on how to fundraise for Tiny Toones? Shoot us an email, we want to hear it!

Tiny Toones are about to embark on their first European tour taking in an international battle in Denmark, a meeting with the Cambodian community in Norway and an international festival in the Netherlands. Three Tiny Toones dancers will compete in Europe’s ‘Floorwars,’ a 3 vs 3 breakdance / bboying battle in Denmark against crews from all over the world. Tiny Toones has been invited by the event coordinators Breakpoint.

From there our dancers will go on to meet the Norwegian-Cambodian Friendship Society in Kristiansand before heading to the Netherlands where they will be joined by five more ‘Tiny Toones’ and take part in the International Community Arts Festival.

Tiny Toones has been invited to run a workshop and put on a dramatic performance. We’re honoured to be invited to such a prestigious event and our special thanks go to the Prince Claus fund for helping us get there.

We’re celebrating by throwing a major going away party at Code Red in Phnom Penh on 7 March. We’ll be premiering the 30 minute dance show that is already one of the most anticipated shows at the ICAF. We’re also lining up a bunch of special guests and we hope as many people as possible come down to party in style and support some of Cambodia’s vulnerable young people at the same time.

“I used to hate my life, my family and myself before I found Tiny Toones” – Voch (22), Tiny Toones music teacher and producer

Homie, Diamond and Voch are three Tiny Toones teachers. Each hails from a different but similarly disadvantaged background and each started out as students at Tiny Toones. Diamond became Cambodia’s first B-girl, Homie has become one of the strongest dancers and leaders at the centre and Voch is a talented and creative music producer (responsible for all the beats on Tiny Toones’ Anakut album).

Now they are inspiring and educating the next generation at Tiny Toones. For us to be able to support them, we need your help. You can see each of them talk about what Tiny Toones means to them in our video collection.

“I am so grateful to have been shown the right direction. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Tiny Toones, I would still be doing bad things or be in prison” – Homie (22), Tiny Toones Creative Program Coordinator and teacher

If you’ve been following our Facebook posts over the past 2 months, you’ve probably seen posts about Tiny Toones staff dance battles!

When we started our fundraising drive in September, we also decided that for every $1000 we raised in donations on our Global Giving page, we would organize and film a 3 round dance battle between some of the best breakdancers at Tiny Toones!

So far we have had 2 rounds, Round 1 (Suicide vs. Kha) and Round 2 (Homie vs. Fresh). It was decided, via comments on our Facebook page, that Suicide won round 1 and Fresh won round 2. This means that when we hit $3000 in donations we will film a runner up battle (Kha vs. Homie) and then when we reach $4000 we’ll host the grand final to decide who is the best dancer at Tiny Toones! If you’d like to see more check out the facebook page and feel free to send us a donation at the link above.

Also – if you’re interested in visiting Tiny Toones – the last Friday of every month is ‘show and tell’ and guests are welcome to come and see the kids latest dance moves and other achievements. Contact dave@tinytoones.org if you would like to attend or if you would like further information about Tiny Toones.